new fence

Hahaha. You have funny comments...
The fence looks very nice. I am also thinking about a new fence at the end of my garden,
as my neighbours have pool, but evidently expect me to repair their old fence full of holes. I like wooden fences.
This one looks really pretty and must smell so as well.

I don't know how long the old fence was up - the panels ran verticaly rather than horizontally, and there was a wooden upright between; i tried to at least tie the flapping panel to the upright, but htere were lots of large nails, as i found out the hard way! the man said that the wood's pressure treated and so won't need painting, at least not for a while yet.

I've not really been out much letely, and not near the fence when I have; never occured to me to check for scent :-) - with this cough, i don't have much of a sense of small anyway.

I got these courtesy of the Housing Association, but if i want any tall fences further down, I'll have to pay for them myself. need to find out how much that might be - I do'nt like being able to see into next door's garden, invasion of privacy, even if accidental and unavoidable.

I suppose it depends on how you get on with the neighbours. We have had the good luck to have had nearly 30 years of reasonable neighbours. Just a brief year or so when Alf went into care, then next door was rented. They were a pain, with a trampoline and a big blow up pool and noisy late night parties, not too many. A telling illustration that you are not in control of anything around you! Fences are expensive and no guarantee they will survive serious gusts of wind. A panelled fence has collapsed down the road and nearly all the concrete posts are cracked at the base. About 8 years since installation in a new developement. I like your plant holder Fran!

Dorjac@sounds like real life story :-)

I think the neighbours will be nice (have been so far, even though we've only spoken twice so far) - but that's all the more reason to "protect" that niceness.

And it's for me, too - I feel very uncomfrortable at being able to see into their garden, but I have to look that way to see the plants on that side. It's an invasion of their privacy, even if inadvertent and unavoidable.

Also, if we both happen to be outside at the same time, will she come to the fence and chat, even if I'm in th emiddle of doing something and want to finish it? will she wonder if I'll do the chatting when she'd rather be doing something else? lWill she think I'm stand-offish if I don't come over and chat? ol easier to have a fence, we can chat at the front if we want to!

Neighbours can make or break a place: the ones at the old flat weren't particuarly neighbvourly, with one sticking their satellite dish into my garden and another chcuking rubbish out of their window.

I've no idea how much a fence might cost - never had to worry about it before! but if I ask the HA repairman for his estimate of what that fence would have cost if I'd had to pay for it, that'll give me some idea. As it's a concrete base, it should last a bit longer than wood-in-the-ground, at least I jolly well hope so!

lol worst-case scenario: I'll get plastic-covered wire mesh and hang more CDs on it!

I've had three "mobile planters" over time: one was a deep one, really too deep to use; the next was a smaller one, but had braked wheels, which meant I had to lift the front and tow it. This one's the best - I did think of leaving it, but it will come in handy, being the right depth *and* non-braked. They were all found by the communal bins - I may have nicked them but someone else did the initial nicking.

Nice new fence, Fran. They are expensive but you get what you pay for, like everything else. Just make sure it's installed correctly and the posts are deep enough, etc.

Sounds like you've made a good start with the neighbours, a friendly hello and a wave is often enough if you, or they, are working at something :)

Each of us is unknown to the other, so we'll each have to find out what the other's like - we've had a chat, when I first came to view the property, and when I came back and was in the garden I was introduced to her OH over the fence. Not spoken or seen since, but this is hardly the time of year to be taking the air!

It'll probably stay a dream ...

Once you have experienced grotty neighbours it can colour your view rather Fran. We like a bit of privacy near the house too but lower down it is just a matter of getting used to it and a cheery wave or two, as Gee says. We got out of our previous house when dire neighbours moved in after good neighbours left. It was time to go anyway. I would have had a nervous breakdown if we had stayed, from lack of sleep. We have trolley wheels under 2 of our slopstone sink troughs. Culled from trolleys when you could still unscrew the wheels! They got wise to that.

One does tend to be a bit wary in case it happens again ... I don't know why they don't put all these nuisances together in one place and let them get on with it and leave the rest of us alone! of course, that's for social housing, people can buy houses where they like.

And it's no good giving them back what they're giving you, they're much better at it.

Some neighbour nuisance can sound trivial, but it does build up - I had an upstairs neighbour who'd have her TV on at full blast all night, every night - she was two floors above me and I could hear every word - even recovnised some of the celebrity voices! My sleep wasn't so much interrupted as murdered; I could only sleep when she "allowed" it by being quiet.

I tried knocking on her door, dropping notes in ... no result. I don't know how the people immediately above, below and to each side of her managed - maybe they were all deaf, or took sleeping pills. Or maybe htey'd just got used to it (if something like that can be got used to!)

Eventually I complained to the council: turned out she had Alzheimers and ddin't know what she was doing. Her daughter arranged for the carers who put her to bed to take the TV remote control away from her, and it was fine after that. But one doesn't recover from 18 months' sleep disturbance overnight - that affected me in every way, as I couldn't sleep at night, or at least slept very badly with constant interruptions, that made me ratty all day, tired and totally unmotivated. Also, I got a bit paranoid in case I did something similar, though on a smaller scale - actually caught myself tiptoeing into the kitchen once!

I never knew about detachable wheels! No wonder they changed the design.